Sunday, August 30, 2009

Day one at Outside Lands continued with much of the same good weather offered up earlier, but a musical slide towards the mainstream. It's no secret that this year's Outside Lands' lineup leaned more heavily towards the middle than last year's, and the second half of Friday was a clear example.

The National began our afternoon, and delivered their signature sound to an enthusiastic crowd. We must say that, despite being huge fans of the band, we're always pleasantly surprised that their dark(ish) sound is making popular headway. Seeing such a heavy band draw in a crowd (especially in broad daylight), is not only surprising, but gives us a fair bit of faith in the masses.

We left The National, and found ourselves immersed in a highly enthusiastic crowd for Incubus' set. To be honest, we didn't even know they had had a hit since "Drive", but the enthusiasm of the crowd seemed to indicate otherwise. While it's not exactly our style, You can't really argue with a band that gets the crowd this psyched.

From there we gave into our inner Carlton Banks, and caught Tom Jones' set. What can we say? Jones is a frikkin classic icon, and if you didn't know what you were getting into with this, we're sorry. Either way, Jones effortlessly delivered some loungey goodness.

Our night wrapped up with Thievery Corporation, and it was quite the show. We're more than happy to admit that Thievery doesn't always catch our fancy. But the fact of the matter is that this was way more than the band from the record. They delivered a drove of performers to the stage, and gave the audience a performance that was part concert, part broadway production. Suffice it to say, it was an epic way to wrap up the night, and left us more than ready to take on Saturday.